roadrunner

A recent video by Chris Troutner, Senior Javascript Developer at Bitcoin.com, points out a problem with anti-profit seeking approaches to crypto development, and how devs can incentivize growth and attract business using REST APIs to earn BHC. Without incentives, Troutner notes, many promising services and applications run the risk of succumbing to an economic tragedy of the commons, when user demand surpasses developer ability to accommodate these needs. Also Read: Running Bitcoin Cash: An Introduction to Operating a Full Node Profit Protects Quality There’s nothing wrong with free, but at the end of the day, everybody has to eat. In the cryptosphere this fact of reality shouldn’t be looked at as an obstacle, but rather an opportunity for growth. This is the view of Chris Troutner, who in his latest video expounds on the possibilities of economies of scale within the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. A REST API is a ubiquitous type of API (application program interface) used all over the internet today and on popular sites like Amazon and Twitter. As Troutner says in his presentation, the acronyms aren’t all that important. An API is simply a “way for a computer on the internet to talk to another computer on the internet.” Some examples of free APIs in the BCH space are Electrumx servers, Cashshuffle, SLPDB, Bitdb and Rest.bitcoin.com. While free APIs are a wonderful thing, there are also risks when demand outruns scalability. Speaking of Rest.bitcoin.com, the developer notes: It’s not that people aren’t using the service, it’s that too many people are using the service and we don’t have a pro tier. We don’t have a way to move people from the free service to a paid service so that the end users can pay for the services they’re using. The reasons for incentivizing REST APIs are myriad, and it’s not just about making a buck. According to Troutner, “What this tragedy of the commons is specifically with REST APIs is that they’re open to abuse and they’re open to disproportionate use.” He notes that serious developers trying to create a great user experience and make crypto accessible to all have to compete with malicious entities and less experienced developers, all utilizing the same free infrastructure. For a business looking to build on a solid foundation, this presents significant risk. Troutner’s proposed solution is to wrap a full BCH node around a REST API, and charge a small fee to serve multiple people. The developer elaborates: Now all of the sudden, you have 30 people paying one dollar, instead of 30 people paying 30 dollars to run their own [full node] infrastructure. So that’s a huge economy of scale … Businesses need to focus on their core business value, and running infrastructure like full nodes is not a part of that. Payment button on Troutner’s demo application, allowing a user to access greater permissions on an API via BCH. Payment for APIs via BCH One proposed way users could access REST APIs via bitcoin cash is through leveraging JSON web tokens (JWT). JWTs are access-granting credentials. The long and short of Troutner’s demo in the video, and proposed solution to the ‘tragedy of the commons,’ is as follows: An API (such as for a crypto wallet) has a limit imposed on running requests. In order to access the next tier of usage allowance, the user must provide a JWT credential. To obtain the JWT, users can pay the REST API in BCH. Things like subscription duration, refund options, rollover credits and other parameters can be put in place on the JWTs as well, increasing options for developers. The entire process can be automated, according to Troutner. Permissionless Profit For some reason, many in the crypto space seem to view profit as an evil boogeyman. A strange thing considering the whole mission is to make sure the world is spending and using crypto as money. Troutner provides the code used for his demo via his organization, the Permissionless Software Foundation, on Github, and a couple other sources detailed in-depth in the video. Hardly the move of a heartless, greedy profiteer. The confusion in the crypto space surrounding profit seems to often take the form of conflation. The confusion of “not free” with “not fair.” The truth is, there can be world of incentivized development happening via open source software and code, and all degrees of usability and tiered access. This kind of robust environment can only happen in one context, though: a free and permissionless (non-authoritarian) open market. As Troutner puts it: The fix to the typical tragedy of the commons scenario is to create a marketplace. What do you think about Chris Troutner’s proposed incentives for devs? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post How Cryptocurrency Developers Can Earn Bitcoin Cash With REST APIs appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In a normal world savers are expected to receive compensation for giving their money to the bank. Instead, due to negative interest rates, we are now seeing more financial institutions actually charging their clients for fiat cash deposits, with Credit Suisse the latest big bank to join in on this practice. Also Read: Banking Giant HSBC Set to Fire 10,000 More Employees Credit Suisse to Punish Big Savers Zürich-headquartered multinational investment bank Credit Suisse has recently announced that it will soon begin offering negative interest rates on Swiss franc accounts above a certain threshold, effectively charging big savers for holding their fiat cash at the bank. Clients with balances of over 2 million CHF ($2.02 million) will be charged at a rate of -0.75%, and those with balances of more than 10 million CHF will have to pay a higher rate of -0.85%. These changes will be implemented November 15 for business clients and January 1, 2020 for individuals. The rationale for making such a move, which normally companies will try to avoid as much as possible as to attract big clients, is that the bank itself is disincentivized from holding CHF deposits. This is because the Swiss central bank has already charged financial companies negative interest for deposits for several years now, which already forced UBS, Julius Baer and others to decide to pass on the costs to their clients. “As other banks have been doing for some time, Credit Suisse is introducing negative interest rates for clients with very high Swiss franc cash holdings,” the bank explained on Friday. “The reason for this is the persistent negative interest rate environment.” Negative Interest Rates Continue to Spread Commercial banks in various developed markets around the world have been suffering from the effects of persistently negative interest rates on their business. It is one of the leading causes identified by economists as being behind the current contraction in the global banking sector. Despite this, the practice seems to be spreading as central banks are left with few options to combat economic issues, as rates are already historically low in places such as Germany, Japan and Denmark. Negative rates might make it to the U.S. eventually as well, as the San Francisco Fed recently featured the practice as an important policy tool for fighting economic downturns. While negative interest rates on fiat cash is hurting banks’ traditional business of holding and lending money, it presents an opportunity for cryptocurrency ventures to take their place. In fact, 2019 has seen a takeoff in services that offer earning interest on crypto assets. For example, thanks to a partnership between Bitcoin.com and Cred, you can now earn up to 10% on your BCH and BTC holdings. What do you think about big banks like Credit Suisse charging clients for fiat cash deposits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Credit Suisse Is Latest Bank to Charge Clients for Cash Deposits appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The love-in between smartphone developers and cryptocurrency users is smoldering. What started out as a flirtation by HTC and Samsung has blossomed into a full-blown affair, incorporating hardware and software support from a string of companies. Today, Opera ramped up its cryptocurrency support, integrating Bitcoin Core and Tron into its mobile browser wallet. Also read: Running Bitcoin Cash: An Introduction to Operating a Full Node Opera Sings Crypto’s Praises Cryptocurrency users awoke this morning to the news of another smartphone integration. Opera’s Android wallet now supports BTC and TRX, in addition to ETH, with the promise of iOS to come. As the developer explained, “All of Opera’s features, like the free unlimited VPN, the built-in ad blocker and Crypto Wallet, follow the same line of thinking – you should be able to access them as fast as possible … You can now choose to add a Bitcoin card to your wallet, making it possible to send and receive money from the web.” With 350 million users, the browser’s support for Bitcoin and Tron is significant. In the case of the former, it provides censorship-resist money directly within the web browser, enabling BTC to be spent on third party websites that accept the cryptocurrency. Tron integration, meanwhile, will prove a boon for decentralized applications, supplying smartphone users with access to a panoply of apps that exist beyond the purview of the Apple or Google Play stores. Opera has been supporting crypto for some time, having incorporated Ethereum into Android browsers last year, and Apple iOS this spring. It was the first major browser to integrate a crypto wallet, enabling crypto payments to be securely made on sites directly within the mobile browser. Samsung caught crypto headlines this year when it integrated ETH and later BTC into the Galaxy S10. The Convergence of Crypto and Mobile Mainstream crypto awareness and ultimately adoption appear a realistic prospect at this rate. Whereas in the past major tech companies merely flirted with blockchain, recent developments suggest a full-blown love affair in the making, with the end result likely to be a wider appreciation of cryptocurrency among smartphone users. Facebook’s much-vaunted crypto payments system Libra could help in this respect. Although it’s a centralized protocol, it opens the possibility of a few billion monthly users exploring the topic more broadly, which can only be a good thing. Libra launches in 2020, so expect the hype train to keep rolling until then. Zuckerberg’s big beast is not alone. Last month, popular Japanese messaging app Line launched Bitmax, an app-connected cryptocurrency exchange boasting five assets: BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC and XRP. Staying in Asia, Taiwanese electronics firm HTC has unveiled its new Exodus 1s handset equipped with a built-in hardware wallet to hold crypto. Unlike its predecessor Exodus 1, the 1s runs a full Bitcoin node – the first smartphone to do so. This means that users can contribute more fully to the security of the ecosystem and verify their own transactions. HTC’s new Exodus 1s The Budget Blockchain Phone The Exodus 1s is a device tailored for crypto devotees rather than neophytes, and barriers to entry are lowered from a cost perspective also: it’s just $250, a major reduction on the Exodus’ $700 outlay. Paradoxically, some geographical barriers remain: the device is only available in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with more locations to be announced in future. The convergence of bitcoin and smartphone wallets certainly makes it easier for individuals to spend their chosen cryptocurrency and interact with decentralized applications (dapps) on the go. Just last month, HTC announced that its original Exodus 1 handset would start supporting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) through its partnership with Bitcoin.com, in a collaboration that has seen the Bitcoin.com Wallet preloaded on the handset. Opera’s Android web browser now supports BTC. Of course, HTC is not the only mobile platform which is touting crypto-centric handsets. Samsung has been blazing the trail for a while, and its Galaxy S10 now supports 18 dapps and over 30 cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH and HT. Millions will soon be able to use bitcoin with apps via the Blockchain Wallet Samsung has started including on its flagship handsets this year. Can we expect more mobile giants to enter the crowded cryptosphere? Absolutely. In fact, they’re already mobilizing: Apple released a cryptographic software called CryptoKit for iOS 13 in June, and LG have hinted at their own crypto wallet by trademarking “ThinQ Wallet.” These tech companies aren’t operating in silos, either: several have come together to create a government-backed blockchain network that will allow citizens to ditch hard copies of important documents in favor of a blockchain-powered mobile solution. As well as LG and Samsung, the consortium includes financial IT company Koscom and South Korea’s Shinhan Bank. The days of spending cryptocurrency solely on desktop, or locking it away in hardware wallets, destined never to be spent, are over. There’s no obligation to spend crypto of course – it’s yours to use or store as you see fit. At least now, thanks to the efforts of smartphone developers, you have the option to deploy your digital assets on the web and on the go. Do you think smartphone integration of cryptocurrency will lead to broader adoption? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post Smartphone Developers Embrace Crypto as Opera Integrates BTC and TRX appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Banking services platform Cashaa is offering a solution for Indian crypto owners facing banking restrictions imposed by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The service allows users to deposit up to 1 crore rupees (~$141,012) per month to purchase cryptocurrencies. Also read: Indian Finance Minister Answers Crypto Questions at IMF Meeting Cashaa’s Banking Solution U.K.-based online banking platform Cashaa announced Monday that it will start enabling users to buy cryptocurrencies with INR on Oct. 23. The company explained that “While access to crypto in India through banking no longer exists, Cashaa was able to find a solution,” elaborating: On the occasion of Diwali, an Indian festival for wealth and prosperity, Cashaa will be enabling INR deposits and purchases of crypto in India for Indian residents, up to 1 crore INR per month. Cashaa cofounder Janina Lowisz confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that “people can buy BTC, ETH and our own token CAS with INR so far,” noting that BCH will be added by Christmas. To access Cashaa’s banking services, users need to have the platform’s native token. “We will enable this [buy crypto with INR] service for Indian residents who have at least 2,500 CAS in their Cashaa wallet,” CEO Kumar Gaurav said earlier this month. The coin, currently trading at $0.008, can be used to pay for services and fees on the platform. Founded in June 2016, Cashaa currently offers personal and business accounts. A large number of its users are in India, the company revealed. Its services allow users to purchase cryptocurrencies using credit or debit cards, deposit funds via bank transfer in over 200 countries, and withdraw funds in users’ local currency. In addition, the company claims that its “crypto-friendly bank accounts have received a huge demand including more than 700 business signups, many of which are in the process of onboarding.” Banking Restrictions and Regulatory Uncertainty Cashaa explained that it has been working to provide a solution to users in India ever since the RBI banned financial institutions from providing services to businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies. The ban went into effect in July last year and banks subsequently closed accounts of crypto exchanges, forcing some of them to shut down. Several writ petitions have been filed with the country’s supreme court to challenge the ban. The court is scheduled to resume hearing the case on Nov. 19. A number of crypto exchanges responded to the RBI ban by launching exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer (P2P) trading. Bitcoin.com also has a P2P marketplace for bitcoin cash available to users in India. Meanwhile, a bigger issue is looming in India — the legal framework for cryptocurrency. A draft bill that seeks to ban all cryptocurrencies except state-issued ones is being considered by the Indian government, which has told the supreme court that this bill may be introduced in the next session of parliament. However, many people in the Indian crypto community believe that the bill is flawed and are heavily campaigning to convince the government to reevaluate the recommendations in the bill. What do you think of Cashaa’s banking solution for crypto users in India? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Cashaa. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Cashaa Launches Banking Solution for Indian Crypto Owners appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

JAPAN, TOKYO, October 21, 2019 — Bitcoin.com, the world’s leading resource for cryptocurrency-related products and news, has launched the HashRace, a Bitcoin.com Pool promotion aimed at maximizing profits for its extensive network of Bitcoin mining clients. The 180 day promotion, which began on October 21st, 2019, will reward miners with an unlimited hashrate bonus for directing their own hashrate to the Bitcoin.com mining pool. Every miner contributing at least 500 TH/s will receive a ‘hashrate bonus’ in the form of free hashrate, dependent upon the individual miner’s contribution over the course of the promotion. The campaign, broken into two 90-day phases, aims to provide participants with the opportunity to maximize mining profitability before the upcoming Bitcoin halving, forecasted for the Spring of 2020. During the initial 90 day accumulation period, promotion participants are encouraged to increase their hashrate bonus by directing as much hashrate as possible to the Bitcoin.com mining pool. Following the close of the accumulation period, participants’ hashrate bonuses will be locked in according to their hashrate contribution during the preceding Accumulation Period. From the onset of the accumulation period, HashRace participants will receive hashrate bonuses based on the amount of hashrate contributed to the Bitcoin.com Pool. After the bonus lock-in, participants will continue to receive their hashrate bonus by maintaining a daily contribution greater than 50% of their average hashrate directed to Bitcoin.com during the accumulation period. Hashrate bonuses will be received in 30-day intervals over the course of the promotion and participants will typically receive a 7.5 TH/s bonus for every 500 TH/s that they directed to the Bitcoin.com mining pool during the accumulation period. In conjunction with The HashRace mining promotion, Bitcoin.com has also unveiled The HashRace Top 10 Leaderboard, which will display a real-time ranking of the top hashrate contributors over the course of the promotion. A larger HashRace Leaderboard Bonus of 10 TH/s per 500 TH/s contributed incentivizes larger mining clients to compete for a place on this top 10 leaderboard. Bitcoin.com is dedicated to providing industry-leading support and services to both new and existing miners. For more information on the HashRace promotion, visit mining.bitcoin.com/hashrace. Contact Email Address press@bitcoin.com Supporting Link mining.bitcoin.com/hashrace The post Bitcoin.com Launches HashRace Promotion to Maximize Miners’ Profits appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Choosing the right blockchain is a tough call for any development team. It’s a decision that entails correctly anticipating project requirements – scalability; speed; community; security – before a line of code has even been written. It’s no wonder that a project occasionally finds its first choice of blockchain isn’t ‘the one,’ forcing it to play the field. Also read: Bitmain’s Jihan Wu Talks Mining and Industry Growth With Bitcoin.com’s CEO Unchained: When Cryptos Drop Their Blockchain Like marriage, blockchain is meant to be a life-long commitment. You pick your network and then you stick with it through thick and thin, because the alternative – to elope with a faster, more scalable model – is frowned upon. It’s also a hassle having to move all your stuff, like your token, community and development stack. And yet sometimes, when irreconcilable differences get too much, the benefits of chain-hopping outweigh those of staying put and sticking it out. When games developer Biscuit named its medieval-fantasy EOS Knights, it seemed a certainty that the product would remain firmly wedded to the EOS blockchain. Following a name change from EOS Knights to Knight Story, however, the project has now signaled its intention to trade up. Knight Story has switched allegiance from EOS to Tron and will release an upgraded version of the blockchain game in December that will include a revamped economy powered by TRX and TRC-based tokens (including NFTs). Game of Trons: you win or you die. Now that the company has pledged its fealty to Justin Sun, the CEO of TRON and Bittorrent was quick to heap praise upon the project. “There has never been a decentralized game of this scale before,” gushed Sun. “Biscuit’s successful rollout of blockchain gaming for mainstream audiences marks a turning point for the space.” As for the deeper reasons for the change, Biscuit cites Tron network’s performance, developer-friendly tools, and robust ecosystem of applications. The company also believes Tron will grant it greater opportunities for ‘synergistic partnerships.’ Despite the fact that ‘synergistic partnerships’ sounds like corporate fluff, it may in fact be the key to understanding why a game that boasted 6,000 daily players on EOS would consider pastures new. The move means that in future Biscuit will be able to leverage Tron’s partnerships with Bittorrent and Opera in its ongoing quest to reach a wider audience and attract more players. EOS Knights is the second most popular EOS dapp. It’s now moved to Tron. The Distributed Key to Change Another project which realized its first choice simply wouldn’t work out is Remme, a public key infrastructure (PKI) solution striving to make passwords obsolete. Originally the team settled on Hyperledger Sawtooth to deliver its goals, choosing the blockchain because of Hyperledger’s parallel transaction execution, private network support with permissioning features, pub-sub events system, modularity, and pluggable consensus algorithms. The team were also enthused by the fact that Hyperledger offered multi-language support during the development phase. But as Remme explained in July, the potential benefits of Hyperledger were eventually outweighed by a number of obstacles they encountered during the development phase that made migration the only sensible option. In the end Remme was forced to concede that “If we were to continue building on Sawtooth it would require us to direct our energies towards improving the Sawtooth ecosystem itself so it can operate a network our use cases require rather than on our core development.” For that reason, the team decided to move to a more tried and tested system, selecting the EOSIO codebase of EOS. It’s a choice that appears to be already paying dividends: with greater support and battle-hardened infrastructure, EOSIO is fast-tracking Remme’s progress. After months of delays under Hyperledger, the EOSIO switch has rapidly led to successful testnet deployment and the Remme mainnet is now scheduled for launch this December. Changenow Changes Its Chain Crypto-changing site Changenow is in the business of swapping crypto, but in April the company announced it would be making a swap of another nature by transferring NOW Token from Ethereum to Binance Chain. Instead of choosing one chain over the other, however, Changenow decided that half of its tokens should remain on the Ethereum chain with the other half burned and reminted on Binance Chain. According to a press release, this was done to give the platform’s users freedom of choice, with the Changenow site offering NOW Swaps for anyone who wants to make the change. A better explanation may be that the partial migration allowed Changenow to cash in on the huge amount of hype surrounding Binance Chain, and in the process become only the second coin to be listed on Binance DEX. Dev-initely Leaving It’s not just crypto projects that switch blockchains – sometimes devs jump ship too. Pokkst is one developer who did just that, porting all of his work from Bitcoin Core to Bitcoin Cash, including his non-custodial wallet Crescent Cash. Explaining the switch, the developer said: “With the complexity of the Lightning Network, Bitcoin (BTC) is a lost cause. Bitcoin Cash still works flawlessly though, just like how BTC used to.” Change isn’t always possible. Thanks to an abundance of choice in the cryptosphere, it’s never too late to change hearts, minds and chains. What other projects have successfully changed blockchains? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post 4 Cryptocurrency Projects That Successfully Changed Blockchains appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Setting up a Bitcoin Cash node is a fairly easy task for someone who wants to contribute to the decentralized ecosystem. There are various ways you can run a node whether it’s on a cloud, on a local machine or by leveraging a small single-board computer. The following is a simple introduction for anyone who wants to set up a full node implementation. Also Read: The Fed Plans to Inject $60 Billion per Month Into the Economy The Required Elements Needed to Run Bitcoin Cash During the last two years, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) environment has grown robust and there are quite a few different full node clients. A full node can be any computer that connects to the BCH network by downloading the entire history of the blockchain. Full nodes watch the network to ensure all the consensus rules are being followed and they also offer noncustodial and privacy advantages. At the time of writing, according to Coin Dance there are 1,681 public nodes that can be seen running the BCH network. There are also full nodes running BCH that choose to remain out of sight from the public view. Coin Dance counts six different full node clients in Bitcoin ABC, Bitcoin Unlimited, BCHD, Flowee, XT, Bitcoin Verde, Bitprim, and three other unknown variations. To get started you need to download the software and sync the full node by also downloading the existing chain data. For our example, we used the latest Bitcoin ABC version 0.20.4, which can be found here. Users can download any type of BCH full node implementation they want to run and basically follow the same steps. Before you start, there are three methods that can be used to install and run your own BCH node. The first one would be running a node using a cloud service like Google Cloud or Amazon. You need to create a virtual machine (VM) and configure everything through that specific operating system. After downloading the software, you will need to apply the correct port settings and also make sure you have enough storage space and bandwidth. Port TCP/8333 is the port generally used to connect with Bitcoin Cash. If you choose the cloud route, keep in mind that you are using a centralized server which makes you dependent on their services. Another option is using your desktop or laptop if it has enough speed and enough storage to host the entire BCH blockchain. Today the Bitcoin Cash blockchain is around 134 Gigabytes (GB) in size so you will need at least that amount plus some extra capacity for further syncing. A reliable connection for at least eight hours or more per day is required to run a well-synced node. Port TCP/8333 is the port generally used to connect with Bitcoin Cash. Hosting a full node using a local machine is just as easy to set up, but it’s good to make sure your computer won’t be bogged down. A computer with around 2GB of RAM with an internet connection of around 50 kilobytes per second (Kbps) or more will be sufficient. Because the BCH chain is so large in size, it may take a few days to get the entire network synced up on your device. Following the first sync, subsequent syncs will take far less time depending on how often you sync or keep the node online. The last method you can choose when building your first full node is with a single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi. Of course, the Raspberry Pi will also need a 50 Kbps internet connection and enough storage space attached to hold the current chain size and then some (300-500GB is sufficient). There are a few companies that produce plug-n-play full nodes in a box that do the same thing as a homemade Raspberry Pi kit. Usually, these pre-built kits are more pricey than building your own node, but once you get one in the mail you can sync up in no time without any hassle. Besides the 134 GB needed to run a full BCH node, you should have free disk space for the future. In order to download and operate a Bitcoin Cash client you will need: Time: it will take several days to download the entire blockchain. A computer: any computer that runs Windows, OSX, or Linux. Storage space: around 200 GB of initial space for the first sync and another 200 GB of free space for following syncs. Reliable internet: an internet connection that offers a dependable broadband service with speeds of at least 50 kilobytes per second. Unlimited connection services: a full node will need to be able to operate without exceeding upload limits. A constant connection: at the very least a node should run for roughly eight hours a day or non-stop. At the time of publication, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain is 134 GB in size. Again, you can choose to download another full node client instead of Bitcoin ABC and follow the same process. Bitcoin ABC is written in C++ and is the most popular client with 934 nodes at the time of writing. Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) is a fork of the Bitcoin Core reference client written in C++ as well. Similarly to the ABC version, BU features an adjustable blocksize cap and other concepts like emergent consensus and Xthin blocks. Bitcoin Verde is a complete full node, block explorer and library built from the ground up. BCHD is an alternative full node bitcoin cash client written in Go (golang). Flowee the Hub is another alternative implementation of the BCH network that includes features like libsecp256k1, adjustable blocksize cap, and Xthin blocks. Bitprim’s creators consider its software client to be a high-performance Satoshi implementation focused on user flexibility. All of them need the basic requirements which include a reliable internet connection, storage space, and time. There are various ways you can run a BCH full node implementation including a cloud server, local machine, or a single-board computer. The Benefits of Maintaining a Bitcoin Cash Full Node Running a full node is not hard, and with a cloud account, a local machine or a simple Raspberry Pi 3 starter kit with some storage space anyone can get one going. Building a low-end single-board computer system with an HDMI cable, screen, keyboard, and mouse can cost around $150-250 depending on the quality of equipment used. You have to consider the operational costs involved with running a BCH node too, which will always require a reliable internet connection. Beyond the cost, you will be helping contribute to the BCH network by allowing others to use your node to broadcast transactions. In the same manner, you can be sure your transactions will be broadcast as full node implementations have their own wallet. To that end, operating a full node allows you to run Bitcoin Cash in a noncustodial fashion while keeping your funds secure and permissionlessly broadcasting financial transactions. It may take some time to set up and a little maintenance here and there, but there are a lot of benefits when it comes to hosting your own BCH node. Do you run a Bitcoin Cash node? Let us know how you set yours up and what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitcoincash.org, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, and Fair Use. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. You can also enjoy the easiest way to buy Bitcoin online with us. Download your free Bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely. The post Running Bitcoin Cash: An Introduction to Operating a Full Node appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Two reports from risk solutions group Lexisnexis assert that anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) policies can negatively affect a business’s bottom line and customer service significantly. A recent trip to the local post office for a money order certainly had a negative effect on my own experience, thanks to the same regulations, which make paying customers feel like they are suspected terrorists just for doing business. Also Read: Bittrex Pulls Out of 31 Markets Citing Regulatory Uncertainty Everyone’s a Suspect A recent visit to my local post office here in Japan, to get a simple USD money order for a passport, opened my eyes to just how far the KYC/AML freight train has already progressed. The small huddle of post office staffers were looking at each other nervously during the process, and when the transaction finally appeared to be finished, I approached the counter to take my documents and change. The woman pointed at the money in the tray, embarrassed. “This money,” she said in English, “how did you get it?” I stared at her blankly, half surprised and half annoyed at the question. “Do you have a job?” she doubled down, politely. She informed me that on top of the $50 processing fee to create the money order, I would now have to wait for two weeks while it was approved. The awkward questions were the result of new anti-terrorism regulations that had been implemented in the recent past, and it became clear what had likely happened. She didn’t know how to run through the new protocol. The experience was off-putting and unprofessional. Not in small part owing to the implied assumption that I was a potential terrorist. All I could think at the time was “This is why we need crypto.” The intrusive questions of regulators can be unexpected and over the top. Uncovering the True Cost The insanity of the anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) inquisition is just beginning. And like any inquisition worth its salt, nobody truly expects it. KYC and AML measures may be viewed as necessary evils in the crypto space by many, but they nonetheless stand to choke out crypto and businesses’ primary utilities and efficiency, while few seem too openly notice or care. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) continues constricting slowly but surely like a red tape boa, making policy “suggestions,” and devising plans to make sure they are enforced, while transactions ranging from crypto trading to getting a simple USD money order have become almost farcical for the level of privacy invasion they can entail. There is a quickening happening in recent years, and the squeeze is now being felt directly. None of this is, of course, good for business. The 2016 Lexisnexis report for Asia, “The True Cost of Anti-Money Laundering Compliance,” states: A majority of respondents (55%) indicated that AML compliance has a negative impact on their firms’ business productivity. An additional 15% felt that AML compliance actually threatens their firms’ ability to do business. The 2019 Lexisnexis AML compliance study for the U.S. and Canada Citing the groups most responsible for the pressure, the study explains that “Among compliance organizations, the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is seen as having the most influence on compliance operations, followed by the regional Asia/ Pacific Group on Money Laundering and APEC Counter-Terrorism Working Group.” The new 2019 version of the study for the U.S. and Canada presents a similar picture, and further details who gets hit hardest by centralized, force-backed regulatory bodies like FATF: small business. “[The] cost of AML compliance as a percent of total assets is higher among smaller firms (up to .85%) compared to mid/ large firms (up to .08%). This is driven by the fact that there are certain overhead investment requirements regardless of scale,” the report elaborates. Customer Service Doesn’t Like It Either Not only is the average annual compliance spending for U.S. and Canadian firms high, according to the 2019 study, considering “The projected cost of AML compliance across all U.S. and Canadian financial services firms is $31.5B,” but these practices can be bad for worker morale and customer onboarding. The 2016 report notes: The opportunity costs are seen as highest in China and Thailand, where 36% and 26% of respondents respectively estimated that AML compliance leads to the loss of 5 – 6% of account opportunities. Many potential clients, turned off as I was at the post office by prying questions and unprofessional presumptions, simply leave during the application or onboarding process. The employees that have to process myriad account alerts, intrusive interviews and convoluted application processes also suffer. It seems few people enjoy accusing complete strangers of being evil criminals. The Asian report notes that “Seventy-six per cent of respondents were concerned or very concerned about job satisfaction issues in their AML compliance departments. Survey results also indicated that low morale has a negative impact on compliance operations productivity.” Where Does It End? Real ID is currently being implemented in the U.S., making it impossible for citizens of the country to take a domestic flight or enter a federal facility without it. In lockstep with FATF guidelines, tax agencies worldwide are cracking down on users of cryptocurrencies, demanding payment in the absence of clear and simple guidelines, and via money that’s not rightfully theirs. Workers at the post office are forced to rudely ask complete strangers if they even have a job. Some are questioning how far all this can go. After all, life is inherently risk-laden. Perhaps the best bet for all the regulators of the world is to put everyone in padded rooms (except themselves, of course) with straitjackets, finally achieving the violence-wrought “peace” they’ve been ostensibly seeking for so terribly long. After all, it’s better safe than sorry, right? Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Bad for Business: How KYC/AML Makes Everyone a ‘Terrorist’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As a cryptocurrency holder, security is paramount – and you can’t be too careful when it comes to your wallet recovery phrase. Unless you want your meticulously accrued crypto to disappear into the ether (or your ether to disappear into the cryptosphere), safely stashing your wallet mnemonic is vital. You must do everything in your power to construct a fortress around your recovery phrase, which you’ll need should you misplace your smartphone or lose your wallet. Also read: Bitcoin and Mnemonics: The Art of the Secret Phrase Hide Yo Seed, Hide Yo Phrase Just as you’d source the biggest deadbolt and fiercest Rottweiler to guard a physical bounty, protecting your crypto from nefarious third parties requires vigor and cunning. The following guide outlines a variety of ways you might go about storing your wallet recovery phrase – as well as the pros and cons to each approach. Be it a 24-word mnemonic, conventional password, numeric PIN, or a combination thereof, it needs to be stored in such a manner that you and you only can access it. There’s no perfect solution to this problem, but these five options come pretty close. Steel Punch Card Protect your recovery phrase from physical deterioration caused by fire damage, flooding and other acts of god by engraving it onto a steel plate. Services such as Blockplate are perfect for this purpose, supplying materials that are stainless, rust-free, acid-resistant, non-toxic and fireproof. In essence, you are turning your recovery phrase into the Terminator – an object that can, unlike a piece of paper, withstand a ridiculous amount of damage and stay the course. As for the cons, they should be obvious: you still have to stash the plate in a safe place, and if it falls into the wrong hands, well, there’s not much you can do. Consequently, you might consider storing your prized plate offsite – close enough to your home to access it conveniently, but sufficiently well hidden. Bank Vault or Safety Deposit Box There’s still some merit in the idea of storing valuables offline in a bank or safety deposit box. Sure, banks occasionally get broken into, and CCTV footage of masked raiders ransacking reinforced concrete rooms – even those deep underground, as in the Hatton Garden heist – is enough to give anyone pause. But 99.9% of the time, valuables locked in a bank stay there until such time as the account-holder calls by to make a withdrawal. It’s far better to store your recovery phrase in a physical vault than on a note-taking app, in the cloud or, heaven forbid, in a document on your desktop. Hackers gonna hack. Split the Secret Sharing schemes distribute parts of a secret among a set of trusted participants, none of whom know what the others hold. Shamir’s Secret Sharing is one such algorithm with a hierarchical component inbuilt. Which is to say that you can regulate the trustworthiness of participants in the scheme, for instance by making blood relatives more trusted than associates. Apparently, the Winklevoss twins used a similar principle to store shards of private keys in safety deposit boxes spread throughout the country. The drawback to splitting your wallet seed into parts and doling it out is that multiple participants could conceivably collude to meet the threshold requirement of shares and uncover the phrase. However, if you don’t like sharing, you can still use this approach but retain all the parts yourself in separate locations – ideally with a backup of each for redundancy. Memorize It Memorizing a wallet recovery phrase is surprisingly easy once you create a memory palace to hold it. This is essentially a well-known physical location (e.g. your kindergarten, first home, workplace) that you visualize and then traverse in your head, laying down words from your wallet phrase as you go from room to room. Once committed to memory and rehearsed a few times, odds are you’ll recall those 12 or 24 words for life. This technique is particularly good when crossing borders, where you wish to transport cryptocurrency without possessing a physical clue to its existence. Relying solely on your brain is a dangerous game, though, which means that even with a memory palace in place, you’ll want a physical copy of your wallet phrase, dotted down and stashed in a safe place. Obfuscate It Even if an adversary discovers your wallet recovery phrase, it will be worthless to them if you’ve taken steps to obfuscate it. Techniques can range from the basic (rearranging the words) to the more elaborate, such as switching the first letter in certain words, or writing down their equivalent in a foreign language you’re familiar with. Use your imagination, in other words, and whatever technique you deploy, keep a record of how to unscramble the message in a separate place. Just don’t title it “Secret to unscrambling my wallet seed.” Plan for the Inevitable Another thing to bear in mind is that when you check out of this world, your recovery phrase will vanish with you, unless you pass it on to your inheritor. So, remember to include instructions on accessing your secret phrase in your will. Someone else might as well spend those satoshis you’ve assiduously accrued during your lifetime. It’s also prudent to make more than one copy of your recovery phrase and store it in a different location. After all, none of the above methods are entirely foolproof: as well as being robbed, banks can burn down or go bust. Just remember to safeguard your get-out-of-jail copy with the same rigor as you employed for the original. What other wallet recovery phrase techniques do you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post How to Safely Store Your Wallet Recovery Phrase appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to a blog post published by Circle, the cryptocurrency firm is releasing its subsidiary exchange Poloniex which is now owned by an “Asian investment group.” The trading platform will become an independent company called Polo Digital Assets, Ltd., and after November 1, 2019, U.S. residents will no longer be able to use the platform. Also read: Ethereum Name Service Adds Infrastructure for Multi-Currency Support Circle Spins Out Poloniex Circle, which specializes in digital assets and over-the-counter swaps, has decided to sell the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex. The terms of the deal are unknown, but Circle paid roughly $400 million for the trading platform in February 2018. In a message to the public, Circle cofounders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire disclosed that the exchange will be its own entity known as Polo Digital Assets, Ltd., and it is now backed by an investment agency located in Asia. Circle’s blog post disclosed that Poloniex will be performing “aggressive hiring” and the new entity will spend $100 million on operations management. On October 21, Polo is offering 0% trading fees until the end of the year but U.S. customers received some bad news. The crypto firm Circle purchased Poloniex in 2018 for $400 million and less than two years later the company announced it was spinning out Poloniex. “This transition will mean some significant changes for existing U.S. customers of Poloniex,” Circle’s blog post underlines. “As detailed in a separate announcement from the Poloniex team, U.S. customers will no longer be able to trade on the exchange starting on November 1, 2019.” Neville and Allaire’s announcement further details: U.S. customers will continue to be able to access and use their wallets and withdraw funds through wallet and custody services operated by Circle until at least December 15, 2019. US Regulations Stifle Digital Currency Businesses The cofounders mentioned that it was “bittersweet” for the company to release the firm, but also highlighted that Circle “faced challenges as a U.S. company growing a competitive international exchange.” On social media and forums, U.S. residents were flabbergasted by Circle’s announcement. One person wrote that he was “getting really sick of losing access to crypto markets due to being a U.S. citizen.” “Someone needs to put up an easy how-to guide on how to set up an offshore corporation U.S. citizens can put their assets into, and then how to use a VPN to access exchanges,” the individual continued on the Reddit forum r/cryptocurrency. Is @justinsuntron buying Poloniex? — Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) October 18, 2019 Additionally, the cryptocurrency community discussed the Asian investment group that allegedly purchased Poloniex. Celia Wan and Frank Chaparro from The Block assert “Tron founder Justin Sun is behind Poloniex’s spin-off.” The founder of Digibyte, Jared Tate, remarked that it was “sad to see Poloniex is kicking all U.S. customers off their platform.” Tate added: One major step backward for crypto in the USA. U.S. residents have been at a loss when it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges that offer a large assortment of digital currencies. Recently Binance shut down operations in the U.S. for a while and when it returned, the number of tradeable coins was far less. Bitfinex explained that it would “be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers” in 2017. Last summer Bittrex banned 32 cryptocurrencies from American citizens including QTUM, STORJ, and BCTP. Poloniex is moving out of the US to focus on international markets. They won’t even let US customers use their products moving forward. This will become the norm if the US continues to create an overbearing and/or uncertain regulatory environment. We must get it right. — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) October 18, 2019 Since 2017, interest in cryptocurrencies has surged and many U.S. states have implemented regulations toward digital currency trading platforms and money transmitters. There are certain states in the U.S. exchanges won’t go near like New York due to the strict Bitlicense guidelines. New York’s measure of regulations and guidelines consists of a 44-page document and lots of upfront fees. When the Bitlicense was enacted into law, cryptocurrency startups like Shapeshift, Poloniex, and Xapo left the state and never returned. What do you think about Circle parting ways with Poloniex? What do you think about U.S. residents losing more access to cryptocurrency exchanges? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Twitter, Circle, Poloniex, and Pixabay. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Circle Drops Poloniex Leaving US Crypto Traders High and Dry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Russian authorities have restricted access to a couple of cryptocurrency news outlets. The formal reasons for the censorship move are different in each case but the end result is the same. In both, regulators have acted on the basis of a law that empowers them to block online sources of information that have been banned in the Russian Federation. Also read: Telegram Offers to Postpone Launch of the TON Network Moscow Restricts Access to Cointelegraph and Coinspot The restrictive measures have been imposed against Cointelegraph, a global information source about the latest developments in the crypto space, and Coinspot, a Russian language portal spreading news and other useful information about decentralized digital currencies, fintech trends and financial innovations. Both have been blocked for readers in Russia, starting from October 16. The formal reason in the case with Cointelegraph is a request from Russia’s Federal Tax Service filed on Dec. 25, 2017. The outlet explained that although Cointelegraph was blacklisted almost two years ago, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) technically implemented the ban only this week. It remains unclear why it took the watchdog so long to act. Roskomnadzor Cointelegraph quoted the developer of a Russian anticensorship browser extension who, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the block, noting that the website’s URL has been added to the blacklist file Roskomnadzor emails to internet service providers. However, it seems not all of them have updated their databases at this point as the website is still available to some users in the country. The other affected news outlet, Coinspot, has been blocked at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office of Danilovsky District in Volgograd region, Forklog reported. According to an August 22 ruling by the Central District Court of Volgograd, only a single article detailing how to find a blockchain casino had to be taken down. However, most Russian internet providers have restricted access to the whole site. In both cases, Roskomnadzor’s decisions are based on the Law “On information, information technology and information protection,” which went into force in July, 2006. Its provisions are typically used to justify the blocking of websites containing information the dissemination of which in the Russian Federation has been prohibited for various reasons. Sarkis Darbinyan, lead legal expert at Roskomsvoboda, confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com his organization is aware of these developments. The NGO, which is fighting internet censorship in the country, is currently trying to gather more details about the blocking of the websites. Government Internet Censorship Intensifies The Russian telecom regulator has in the past taken actions against other web portals related to cryptocurrencies, usually on request from other government institutions and the judiciary. For example, the supervisory service blocked the online exchanger Buybit.net in April of this year. But there have been also cases where such attempts have failed. In May, Roskomnadzor had to take a similar platform, removing Bestchange.ru from its blacklist after prosecutors gave up efforts to block the website citing pending legislation expected to regulate digital assets. In March 2018, the Saint Petersburg City Court struck down a ban on 40 websites offering information and services related to cryptocurrencies, and in April, the Supreme Court overturned a decision to block the Bitcoininfo.ru portal. Despite these positive developments, the government has been tightening the noose on the Russian segment of the internet. In March, Roskomnadzor demanded that 10 VPN service providers connect to the Federal State Information System, the register that keeps information about all websites that have been banned in Russia. Later, in April, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, adopted a law designed to channel Russian internet traffic through routing points controlled by authorities in Moscow and effectively isolate the Russian internet space (Runet) from the rest of the web in the future. It grants Roskomnadzor powers to go after internet providers that refuse to participate in Russia’s version of the Great Firewall. Do you think Russian authorities will try to block other crypto news websites? Share your expectations in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Russia Blocks 2 Crypto News Websites appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

If you’ve got a few thousand satoshis burning a hole in your wallet, the darknet beckons. There’s no obligation to spend a single sat while scouring the darker recesses of the web, but it’s nice to know that should you get the urge, your crypto’s good. There are few certainties when shopping on darknet markets (DNMs), but acceptance of BTC, XMR, and other leading cryptos is a given. Here’s a snapshot of what the current crop of darknet markets has to offer. Also read: Bitcoin ATM in Miami Airport Raises Questions About Traveling With Crypto Sliding Into the DNMs Although darknet markets are under increased threat from law enforcement, business continues to boom. Every time a darknet market is taken down, a new head of the Hydra springs up in its place. Dark.fail lists around 20 DNMs, as well as forums and other darknet resources. A cornucopia of forbidden pleasures is but a Tor connection away, but as with all endeavors that involve dabbling in gray or black markets, discretion is advised. Intrepid bitcoiners eager to indulge in a little retail therapy can boot up their browser and mosey down any of the following bazaars. Empire Market Reliance on any single DNM is unwise, as you never know when a site might be busted, backdoored, DDoSed into oblivion, or head for the exits. That said, at this point in time, Empire is the DNM leader by some distance. It’s got almost 40,000 listings for drugs alone and has a thriving ecosystem of vendors and customers who congregate on darknet forums like Dread. Empire’s a little over a year old, but you wouldn’t think it to look at the size of the place. Its subdread board of over 8,000 users vastly exceeds that of any other DNM. If there’s one criticism of Empire, it’s that it’s often offline. That’s the trouble with being the king: everyone wants to topple you. Grey Market Grey Market Grey Market is one of the newer DNMs, making its online debut in mid-2019. Despite its youth, it already boasts over 450 vendors and some 4,700 products, from cannabis vape oil to goods aimed at those with a stronger constitution. As a wallet-less market, there’s no need to deposit funds before you can shop. For every order, you dispatch coins from a wallet you already control to a newly generated address. In theory, this ensures better security for users. Grey Market accepts BTC and XMR and has a 10-tier EXP (experience) structure for vendors. Cannazon Cannazon Cannazon’s logo gives a good indication of the sort of products it offers, with kush lovers well catered for. Like Grey Market, the accepted currencies here are BTC and XMR and there’s a multisig escrow system which is standard with DNMs. Cannazon has been operating since mid-2016, which is practically forever in the world of darknet markets. One good thing about Cannazon is that they vet vendors pretty hard to ensure a high level of product and service and there are 15 vendor tiers. Unlike Grey Market, Cannazon will not ship to or from the U.S. Cryptonia Cryptonia cares about security. That’s why, as soon as you alight on the site, you’re bludgeoned with reassurances: “Cryptonia features the most secure 2/3 Bitcoin Multisig implementation of any market, a transparent wallet-less escrow system” and so forth. XMR and BTC are the accepted cryptocurrencies, and though the UX isn’t a strong point, the thousands of product listings more than compensate. Tochka Whatever your poison, you’ll find it on Tochka. This DNM, which has been operating since 2014, offers a seven-day escrow system and two-of-three multisig. BTC, XMR, and LTC are the favored currencies. Over 6,800 products are on sale at the time of writing, from just under 600 vendors: everything from seeds and edibles to viagra and growth hormone. Interestingly, Tochka has joined forced with DNMAvengers, a forum dedicated to reducing harm and spreading awareness via testing of products suspected of containing adulterants. What’s more, the site allows dead drops, should customers wish to subtly pick up their wares from a prearranged location. Tochka Apollon With over 10,000 listings for drugs alone, Apollon can’t be accused of scrimping on choice. It accepts a good selection of cryptocurrencies too: bitcoin cash as well as BTC, XMR, and LTC. It’s a traditional direct deposit market, so you need to fund your wallet address and wait for the deposit to clear before you can order. There’s nothing novel about Apollon, but that’s okay. The mere existence of multiple DNMs, no matter how generic, lessens the likelihood of them all becoming unavailable at once. Needless to say, if you do decide to avail yourself of any of the aforementioned darknet markets – or any others not included in this list – keep your opsec on point and exercise caution at every pass. What are your thoughts on darknet markets? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post 6 Darknet Markets for the Crypto Curious appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Telegram, which was surprised with a last minute restraining order on the sale of its tokens in the U.S., is now ready to delay the launch of the TON network until the spring of next year. The company has informed the New York court reviewing the case that it can suspend all operations with grams until the legal issues around the coin offering are resolved. Also read: 104 Addresses Hold 70% of Tether, Research Reveals Messenger to Halt Operations With Grams Lawyers representing Telegram Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ton Issuer Inc., have filed documents containing their clients’ proposal to the District Court for the Southern District of New York, Tass reported. The entities behind the Telegram Open Network (TON) have also expressed disagreement with some of the demands put forward by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On October 11, the regulator announced that it had obtained a temporary restraining order for Telegram’s ICO. The court will conduct a hearing on the case on October 24. Due to the legal proceedings, the company now offers to effectively freeze the blockchain project. Before the SEC filed its lawsuit, TON was scheduled to launch by the end of this month. The court has already satisfied some of the SEC’s demands regarding Telegram’s plans. The regulator claims the messaging platform held an unregistered offering of TON’s native GRM tokens. In two private sales between January and March 2018, Telegram sold the rights to 2.9 billion coins to 171 investors worldwide for $1.7 billion. The total includes a billion tokens bought by 39 U.S. residents for $424.5 million. Telegram is now proposing to halt the sale and transfer of its cryptocurrency for a period of five months to give the court enough time to resolve the legal issues. In the recent filing, it also declared its commitment to inform the Securities and Exchange Commission 30 days before it starts any operations with the gram tokens. SEC Rejects Proposal Telegram’s petition to the district court notes that over the past 18 months the company has voluntarily cooperated with the commission and requested its feedback regarding the launch of TON and gram. Its developers even introduced changes to the blockchain platform to address some of the concerns expressed by the SEC. The lawyers disagree with the regulator’s opinion that gram is a security and insist the token has to be regarded as a currency. The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm, which represents the messenger, has asked the court to relieve Telegram of the obligation to meet a number of demands and respond to new requests for additional information from the SEC. However, in its own petition to the court, the commission argues that a postponement of the launch would not be enough. The regulator claims that such arrangement would allow Telegram to continue to commit offenses. If the court does not establish the appropriate prohibitions for the duration of the proceedings, future violations related to the distribution of gram are guaranteed, the SEC insists. Investors Asked to Vote on April 30 Deadline Reaching out to the participants in the two fundraising rounds held last year, Telegram has updated investors on the situation around the TON project and its disagreement with the SEC’s arguments. In recent correspondence with investors, the company asked them to share their position on the proposed extension of the deadline for the network. In case the majority agrees, the messenger plans to proceed with a new launch date before April 30, 2020, using the time to make additional investments and further develop the blockchain platform. However, if either of the two groups of investors disagrees with the delayed start, they will be partially compensated and fewer gram tokens will be issued at launch. Do you think the majority of TON investors will agree with the newly proposed deadline for the launch of Telegram’s blockchain? Share your expectations in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Telegram Offers to Postpone Launch of the TON Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On October 16, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) announced multi-currency support and integration with 15 platforms and wallets. The fusion will provide users with the ability to use a single ENS name across a wide spectrum of crypto applications alongside leveraging a variety of digital assets. Also read: Honestnode Founder Discusses the First Stablecoin Built on Bitcoin Cash 15 Wallets and Platforms Pledge to Support the Ethereum Name Service Anyone who has used a cryptocurrency like bitcoin cash (BCH) or ethereum (ETH) knows that long alphanumeric addresses can be awkward, especially to newcomers. The Ethereum Name Service attempts to solve this issue by providing a decentralized method of using simple, human-readable names. So users who use ENS don’t have to rely on long addresses and anyone can use names like “alice.mywallet.eth.” In order to send ‘Alice’ funds, you simply use the ENS name with a compatible wallet. ENS is already supported by well known platforms such as Opera Touch, Pandax, Cipher, Myetherwallet, Metamask, and Argent. On Wednesday, ENS detailed that 15 more wallets and applications will be supporting the ENS infrastructure. With a total of 24 platforms, multi-coin support will be available as well for a large number of digital assets. ENS representative Brantly Millegan said that the first version of multi-currency support will integrate with ETC, ETH, BTC, and LTC. However, the manager UI will be expanded for other assets like bitcoin cash (BCH). 15 more wallets plan to add ENS support in the future including Bitcoin.com’s noncustodial wallet. If you want to keep your coins secure by storing them in our free Bitcoin mobile wallet click here. The 15 new additions implementing ENS support include the Bitcoin.com Wallet, Atomic Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Opera, Imtoken, Dcent, Trustwallet, Portis, Haven, Squarelink, and Coin Request. Apart from the new client support, ENS is going beyond .ETH namespace names Millegan noted. “We still plan on expanding the namespace available for use on ENS by integrating the DNS namespace. For example, the Ethereum Foundation owns the DNS name “ethereum.org”; with our system, they could also have an ENS record for “ethereum.org” (notethereum.eth, which is a separate name). In this way, the Ethereum Foundation could use “ethereum.org” both for their normal website (using DNS) and for receiving cryptocurrency payments (using ENS).” Millegan added: This already works for .XYZ names, as well as in a special way for names on .LUXE, .KRED, and .ART. And soon we will be rolling out this functionality to all DNSSEC-enabled DNS TLDs, which includes all the major ones. The website ethereum.org uses the ENS infrastructure. Infrastructure and Governance for the Distributed Web With multi-coin progression and the integration with major DNS namespace names, the ENS team believes the project is key in creating a powerful decentralized web. Millegan stressed that ENS and IPFS are accessible in Opera and the Metamask extension. He further highlighted that Ethdns with .LINK can be an answer to the Tor .onion address naming problem. “Support for voluntary personal Whois data has a project underway for serving traditional DNS records,” Millegan said. In August, ENS announced that the Ethereum Name Service now supports the resolution of Tor .onion addresses. The nonprofit hopes the project will bolster a censorship-resistant system for the internet’s name system. Further multiple wallets pledging to support ENS will help spread human-readable addresses as well. The team behind ENS thinks that with all the prior crypto-namespace attempts in the past with projects like Namecoin, “ENS operates in a distributed fashion for both its infrastructure and governance.” Other wallets and platform developers can integrate ENS support as resources are available like the EIP for ENS multi-coin support and the Github repository. Check out the Devcon5 video demo below showing off multi-coin support for ENS at the event in Osaka, Japan. What do you think about ENS being supported by 15 more wallets including Bitcoin.com, Coinbase, and the decentralized marketplace Haven? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Ethereum Name Service, Bitcoin.com Wallet, and Pixabay. Do you want to keep an eye on moving cryptocurrency prices? Visit our Bitcoin Markets tool to get real-time price updates, and head over to our Blockchain Explorer tool to view all previous BCH and BTC transactions. The post Ethereum Name Service Adds Infrastructure for Multi-Currency Support appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Global markets business CME Group said that institutional interest toward the firm’s Bitcoin futures is thriving and 2019’s third-quarter data showed a record number of open interest. Moreover, despite the lackluster start, the Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) Bakkt platform has seen an increase in interest with the company’s physically-settled bitcoin futures product. Also read: Honestnode Founder Discusses the First Stablecoin Built on Bitcoin Cash CME Group’s Bitcoin Futures Continue to Prosper Since going live with its bitcoin futures in December 2017, CME Group’s BTC derivatives has allowed individuals and organizations the ability to hedge exposure to the digital currency. Throughout 2018 and 2019, CME has seen a significant rise in open interest in its bitcoin futures. This summer CME saw unprecedented numbers compared to the volumes recorded a few months prior. “CME Bitcoin futures reached a record $1.7B in notional value traded on June 26, surpassing the previous record by more than 30% — The surge in volume also set a new open interest record of 6,069 contracts as institutional interest continues to build,” CME Group stated. The Chicago-based exchange detailed on October 11 that open contracts during the third quarter grew significantly in comparison to Q3 2018. The number of outstanding positions almost doubled and the company explained that the rise stems from institutions. “Institutional interest in CME Bitcoin futures (BTC) continued to build in Q3 with a record number of large open interest holders (25+ BTC),” the trading platform imparted last week. The news follows CME’s announcement that due to “growing interest in cryptocurrencies and customer demand for tools to manage bitcoin exposure” the exchange would begin offering options on Bitcoin futures (BTC) in early 2020. The day before it’s third-quarter update, CME Group’s global head of equity index and alternative investment products, Tim McCourt, explained there is a huge interest in bitcoin futures in Asia. For instance, cryptocurrency miners based in Asia appreciate derivatives products because they can hedge their costs. Even though the company is preparing for BTC options, McCourt disclosed that CME is not planning to provide physically-settled products like Bakkt. In an interview, McCourt stated: While futures give you a one-for-one exposure, whereby the movement of the underlying bitcoin translates directly to a specific dollar value per contract, an option gives you varying strike-price levels and can give you either downside protection, or upside exposure at a fraction of the underlying [assets’] price. Bakkt’s Bitcoin Futures Volume Spikes and Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash Derivative Products Are Coming Soon When Bakkt launched its physically-settled bitcoin futures the first week was quite dismal and only started to pick up steam after it executed its first block trade between Galaxy Digital and XBTO. Despite the weak start, Bakkt’s BTC trading volumes rose sharply on October 10, from 25 contracts to 224 contracts seeing a 796% rise. The Bakkt Volume Bot shows that futures volumes touched 53 on October 15 and went up 49% with 79 contracts the day after. Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler believes the future of these derivatives products is just getting started and recently wrote about the subject in a blog post called “The Dawn of an Asset Class.” “Seamless coordination between ICE Futures U.S., ICE Clear US, and the Bakkt Warehouse is an important feature of Bakkt’s Bitcoin Futures,” Loeffler wrote for FIA’s global futures magazine. “Much like cotton and coffee futures contracts that can go to physical delivery, many of the same processes apply to the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures,” Loeffler added: The Bakkt Warehouse stands between the customer and the clearing member to securely manage bitcoin movements based on deep domain knowledge, along with significant investments in infrastructure and operations. This design allows clearing members to manage margin balances in USD or U.S. Treasuries, rather than bitcoin. Intercontinental Exchange chairman and CEO, Jeff Sprecher (right), with his wife and Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler (left). The market has shown demand for futures products tied to BTC, but there’s a strong desire for other cryptocurrency derivatives products as well. At Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit in New York City on October 10, Heath Tarbert told the press that he believes Ethereum-based futures will be coming. “It is my view as Chairman of the CFTC that Ether is a commodity, and therefore it will be regulated under the CEA. And my guess is that you will see in the near future Ether-related futures contracts and other derivatives potentially traded.” Further, David Shin, the head of the exchange business at Bitcoin.com recently revealed that the public could see a bitcoin cash (BCH) futures products in Q1 2020. What do you think about the rising interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency products? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, CME Group, Bakkt Volume Bot, Twitter, and Bakkt. Do you want to keep an eye on moving cryptocurrency prices? Visit our Bitcoin Markets tool to get real-time price updates, and head over to our Blockchain Explorer tool to view all previous BCH and BTC transactions. The post CME Bitcoin Futures Sees Institutional Interest and Demand from Asia appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entitled “Global Financial Stability Report: Lower for Longer,” the group gives an overview of the current debt-ridden and precarious state of affairs in global economics. Not lost on some economists, however, is the irony that these modern realities are the direct result of policies historically supported by the IMF itself. Also Read: IMF Has Another Trick Up Its Sleeve When Fiat Fails – Its Own Coin SDR Flip-Flopping The six-chapter, 109-page report breaks down the ominous state of global finance and “identifies the current key vulnerabilities in the global financial system as the rise in corporate debt burdens, increasing holdings of riskier and more illiquid assets by institutional investors, and growing reliance on external borrowing by emerging and frontier market economies.” The assessments are not inaccurate, but fail to turn the lens back on the source, and the very causal factors contributing to these realities. Source: IMF Citing continued easing and precipitously falling bond yields, the IMF calls for more conservative approaches to the management of economic problems, stating: To reduce the risk that additional easing may have the unintended consequence of leading to a further buildup of financial system vulnerabilities, macroprudential policies should be tightened, as warranted. The IMF is suddenly very interested in prudence, and the management of systemic risk, encouraging the use of prescribed tools for mitigating dismal effects of prolonged negative interest, QE and easy credit, and the resultant movement of investors into riskier, more illiquid assets. The report maintains that “Low interest rates have reduced debt service costs and may have contributed to an increase in sovereign debt. This has made some governments more susceptible to a sudden and sharp tightening in financial conditions.” Source: IMF Just three years ago, however, in a 2016 blog post, the group was praising these very same practices, noting that “Although the experience with negative nominal interest rates is limited, we tentatively conclude that overall, they help deliver additional monetary stimulus. Wholesale interest rates have fallen as have some bank lending rates, which should help support demand and price stability.” The post further warns of the very same risks the new report cites, such as institutional entry into risky assets, but still concludes that such policies are helpful overall. Greater Risk Now Condemned IMF, 2016: “Banks benefit overall from [negative interest] policies that support price stability and growth…” even though “There may also be excessive risk-taking. As banks’ margins are squeezed, they may start lending to riskier borrowers to maintain their profit levels.” IMF, 2019: “The monetary policy cycle may have reached a turning point in major advanced economies … Persistently low and declining yields on fixed-income instruments have continued to drive institutional investors … to boost returns by using leverage and investing in riskier and less liquid assets.” The report concludes that “Policymakers can help mitigate the buildup of vulnerabilities through appropriate incentives, minimum solvency or liquidity standards, and enhanced disclosures.” In other words, they warned everyone of their risky, economically unsound plan, encouraged its implementation and adoption, and now are encouraging everyone to pull back quickly. Global Economic Outlook Unstable The executive summary of the report states: Accommodative monetary policy is supporting the economy in the near term, but easy financial conditions are encouraging financial risk-taking and are fueling a further buildup of vulnerabilities in some sectors and countries. The “some” here may be the understatement of the year. As news.Bitcoin.com has reported extensively, the current global situation is deteriorating rapidly with reckless capital injections, rampant negative interest rate policy implementation, negative yielding debt and once mega-powerful economies beginning to fail. In this sense, the IMF’s report is a mere statement of the obvious for many who are paying attention to the situation. Combined with the continued crackdown on free trade of proposed sound money alternatives like bitcoin, and it’s hard not to wax at least a little bit paranoid. Who knows, perhaps tomorrow the International Monetary fund will be pushing further for the creation of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as the palliative for all the economic pain they’ve promoted and effected over the years. What are your thoughts on the IMF’s new report? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, fair use. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Global Crisis Looms as IMF Report Cites Its Own Policy as Dangerous appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reviewing its order issued last week pertaining to a rejected proposal for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The proposal was filed by NYSE Arca for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust. Meanwhile, the SEC is also evaluating a proposed rule change for a different type of bitcoin ETF. Also read: SEC Rejects Another High-Profile Bitcoin ETF Proposal ETF Order Stayed The SEC has sent a letter dated Oct. 15 to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE, concerning its recent order disapproving NYSE Arca’s proposal to list and trade shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust. This proposal was rejected on Oct. 9. “This letter is to notify you that, pursuant to Rule 431 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, 17 CFR 201.431, the Commission will review the delegated action,” the letter explains, adding: In accordance with Rule 431(e), the October 9, 2019 order is stayed until the Commission orders otherwise. The letter continues, “The Office of the Secretary will notify you of any pertinent action taken by the Commission.” Prior to the Oct. 9 rejection, ICE and Bitwise had been actively discussing their bitcoin ETF proposal with the SEC. The Commission emphasized that its disapproval “does not rest on an evaluation of whether bitcoin, or blockchain technology more generally, has utility or value as an innovation or an investment.” This is also not the first time the SEC has taken this action. In August last year, the Commission did the same with three orders for nine bitcoin ETFs. T-Bill Bitcoin ETF in the Running Besides reviewing the order disapproving the proposal for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust, the SEC is currently evaluating another proposed rule change filed by NYSE Arca. The exchange is seeking to list and trade shares of the United States Bitcoin and Treasury Investment Trust. The proposal was first filed with the agency on June 12 and published in the Federal Register on July 1. The exchange filed Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule change on Oct. 4, after which the SEC proceeded to solicit comments from the public. As of Oct. 10, the agency says it has received nine comments on the proposal. According to the amendment, “the trust will have no assets other than (a) bitcoin and (b) short-term U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity of less than one year (‘T-Bills’).” Further, the trust will hold U.S. dollars for short periods of time in connection with the maturity of the T-bills, the sale and purchase of the underlying assets, redemptions, if any, and expenses of the trust. Do you think the SEC will approve any bitcoin ETF proposal anytime soon? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post SEC Wants Second Look at Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Proposal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Las Vegas man is charged with raising at least $11 million from cryptocurrency investors he promised to trade binary options for, and make gains of up to 300%. According to the charges the money was sent from new clients to previous ones in a classic Ponzi scheme manner. Also Read: Binance to Add Bitcoin Cash to Its Decentralized Exchange CFTC Charges Las Vegas Man in $11 Million Fraud The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced it has filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, charging David Gilbert Saffron of Las Vegas as well as his company, Circle Society, Corp., with fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation, and registration violations. The case reportedly involves an $11 million binary options scheme Saffron operated through Circle Society. The court issued an order freezing the assets controlled by Saffron and his company following the filing. “Digital assets and other 21st century commodities hold great promise for our economy,” stated CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert. “Fraudulent schemes, like that alleged in this case, not only cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned money, but they threaten to undermine the responsible development of these new and innovative markets. America must be a leader in this space, and we will only succeed if these markets have integrity.” Guaranteed up to 300% Returns From December 2017 to now, the Las Vegas man and his company raised at least $11 million worth of bitcoin and U.S. dollars from people in the U.S. in order to trade off-exchange binary options on forex and cryptocurrency pairs. According to the complaint, they solicited funds from at least fourteen investors to participate in a pool operated by Circle Society, an entity Saffron created for this purpose, by making false claims about his supposed trading expertise and guaranteeing rates of return up to 300%. The CFTC found that instead of using the funds to trade in binary options contracts as promised, the assets were misappropriated, including by keeping pool participants’ money in Saffron’s personal cryptocurrency wallet and by using funds to pay other participants, which is a hallmark of a Ponzi scheme. The man and his company are also accused of lying to pool participants in order to conceal their fund’s misappropriation. The CFTC seeks from the court a full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations. However, it warned the alleged victims that restitution orders may not result in full recovery of their lost money because the accused may not have sufficient funds or assets left to pay them in full. What do you think about the charges against this alleged Las Vegas scammer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Alleged Las Vegas Scammer Charged for $11 Million Crypto Binary Options Ponzi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) has come a long way since its inception and more than 4,900 SLP tokens have been created to date. During the last few months, SLP usage has grown significantly with people constructing various types of unique ideas that create more use cases for these token concepts. Also read: SEC Commissioner Speaks Positively About Digital Assets Despite Recent Enforcement Flurry Close to 5,000 SLP Tokens Created and Dividend Payments Lots of individuals have been creating SLP tokens on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain. Using the SLP explorer Simpleledger.info shows that there’s been 4,922 tokens created and 182,956 SLP transactions. Transactions using the SLP framework have increased a great deal over the last eight months and since August transactions have spiked considerably. Some of the most popular tokens being used today include the Tribeos Token Test #3, Spice, Bread, Honk Honk, SLP Official, Dogecash, ACD, Honestcoin, and Realmx. Additionally, there’s been roughly 4,121 SLP-based token burns since the project started. The most popular SLP token designed by Tribeos is a trial token for the firm’s security token offering (STO). Tribeos founder Matt Gallant told news.Bitcoin.com in March that the Tribeos STO was approved by the Bermuda Minister of Finance under new digital asset laws. According to Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball and Gallant at the time, the official Tribeos token will be called FIRE. Another popular platform that leverages the SLP framework is Bitcoin.com’s dividend payment tool and BCH proponents have been using the product regularly. For instance, SLP-centric exchange Cryptophyl has been airdropping tokens to registered traders and just recently the platform airdropped 2.1 million Spice using onchain dividends. Rhett Creighton, the creator of zclassic and bitcoin private, also established an SLP token for his group #800cc. Creighton recently gave away $20,000 in crypto in order to spread more adoption and created an #800cc SLP distribution concept using onchain dividend payments. On Wednesday, Creighton showed his excitement for Bitcoin.com’s dividend payment tool and said: Wow — If I paste this into a Bitcoin.com wallet, it gives me a transaction to send 1 BCH split between all #800cc members with only 1 3-cent fee. Who is ready for magic? SLP Token Universe Continues to Show Innovation On forums and social media, BCH proponents discussed the current SLP trend and showed appreciation for the onchain dividend payment concept. One person remarked “It’s the dividends that really make this a game-changer — One could create a token that tracks eg. Exxon stock and when Exxon pays a dividend you get that in BCH. That’s custodial obviously but imagine having your entire PA stock portfolio in non-confiscatable borderless crypto?” “Coinex should move CET to SLP and pay dividends directly,” he added. Another SLP-related website launched this week called Pulse Monster shows a price index of a few popular SLP tokens like Spice, Drop, and Sai. Alternatively, individuals can visit the markets.Bitcoin.com token section for a price index on SLP tokens like ACD, Spice, and Honestcoin (USDH). In addition to the traditional type 1 SLP tokens, people have been creating nonfungible tokens that can be grouped by a single ID. Since the release of the nonfungible token concept called NFT1 and the Simple Ledger Protocol virtual hackathon, people have been creating digitized assets and collectibles. The sandbox game built on top of the BCH chain Realmx uses SLP tokens for in-game items and weapons. For instance, there’s the Realmx Diamond Token, which has seen over 500 transactions since the coin’s inception. Moreover, all 4,900 SLP tokens in existence can be easily stored on one of many noncustodial clients like Ifwallet, Crescent Cash, Badger, Electron Cash, Honeypoints, and Memo’s native wallet. As the future of the SLP universe continues to blossom, the innovative concepts tied to the protocol should help cushion the value and utility of bitcoin cash. What do you think about the environment being built around the Simple Ledger Protocol and all the tokens created on top of the BCH chain so far? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, SLP, Pixabay, Pulse Monster, Simple Ledger Protocol, Ifwallet, Crescent Cash, Badger, Electron Cash, and Memo. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post SLP Token Ecosystem Built on Bitcoin Cash Continues to Blossom appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A poll conducted among university students in China indicates that many of them see a bright future for cryptocurrencies in their country. A quarter of the respondents said they would seek employment in the industry that deals with digital assets and related technologies. Approximately one in 12 students already owns digital coins. Also read: Ukraine in a Rush to Legalize Cryptocurrencies Under Zelensky 17% of Polled Students Have Had Investments in Crypto China has a mixed attitude towards cryptocurrencies in general. On the one hand, the government in Beijing effectively expelled coin offering projects and major exchanges out of the mainland. On the other, the crypto mining industry is allowed to thrive in certain regions in the country with cheap, abundant energy in optimal climatic conditions. Plans for a digital yuan are also moving forward with the People’s Bank of China recently hiring six crypto experts. Unlike authorities, however, the Chinese people have been embracing decentralized currencies with much less hesitation and for obvious reasons – not only the utility they bring but also their censorship resistance. The poll confirms that the young and tech savvy have predominantly positive expectations about the future of the crypto space and are the most eager adopters. Over 8% of Chinese students currently own some cryptocurrency, while another 9% had previously invested in digital assets. The survey has been conducted by Panews among attendants of 131 colleges and universities in 26 Chinese provinces, the crypto news outlet 8btc reported this weekend. The majority of the respondents, over 77%, are undergraduates, with the rest being graduate students. Most of them are specializing in the fields of economics, management, and engineering but there are also some who study literature, for example. 27% of Future Graduates Want to Work in the Crypto Industry It’s worth noting that almost 27% of the students in the survey indicated they would seek employment in the growing blockchain industry in the future. Media remains the main source of information about the crypto space and nearly 40% of the students describe media reports as influential. Despite that, close to a quarter of the participants admit they don’t know anything about blockchain. 22% acknowledge that the coverage in mainstream media is mostly negative, while 17% claim they hear more positive news. The authors of the study point out that crypto-related educational courses are still rare in Chinese higher education institutions. At the same time, the level of awareness about cryptocurrencies is relatively high, with 67% of those polled stating they know bitcoin. Around 15% admitted they hadn’t heard anything about the digital currencies ethereum, neo, and Facebook’s Libra project. Just seven of the respondents knew all entries in a list of 11 crypto terms like “mining,” “stablecoin,” and “hash value.” Although the People’s Republic approaches cryptocurrencies with caution and has already tried to limit their spread in Chinese society and economy, Beijing has not turned a blind eye to the development of decentralized coins. For instance, the country’s Center for Information and Industry Development publishes regular crypto rankings evaluating various projects in the space based on their own logic. If you want to learn how the global market evaluates cryptocurrencies, you can always check their current price and cap at markets.Bitcoin.com. Do you think the young generations in China will tip the scales in favor of cryptocurrencies? Share your opinion in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Survey: Chinese Students Want Crypto Jobs, 8% Own Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. SEC, Fincen and CFTC issued a rare joint statement Friday addressing regulation of “activities involving digital assets.” Citing crypto’s perceived role in money laundering and terrorism, the regulatory power trio prescribed stricter adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) policies and know your customer (KYC) protocols. The statement is a highly visible product of the new crypto reality: for many, it’s no longer about Satoshi’s vision, but regulated, de-clawed digital assets for the obedient masses. Also Read: Telegram Awaits Court Hearing on SEC Case Against Its Token Sale Centralization of Decentralized Money For all the bluster about “Bitcoin revolution” that pervaded the cryptosphere not so long ago, permissionless money, along with calls for death to central banks, the once roaring lion of crypto opinion now seems to have been transformed into a skittish, whimpering kitten. Bitcoin maximalism has brought with it the unthinking zealotry common to religious fanaticism, and those who want to moon lambo as fast as possible are happy to hear about government adoption and approval even if it means sacrificing core utility. Let’s be clear, Bitcoin as a technology cannot be centralized if people don’t want it to be, but if they fail to use freely, it can indeed be neutralized as such. It’s not a silver bullet or standalone cure-all. Bitcoin requires human action. In their joint statement, the U.S. regulatory groups assert: The leaders of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Agencies”) today issued the following joint statement to remind persons engaged in activities involving digital assets of their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT)obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). In and of themselves, such prescriptions for adherence to regulation are nothing at all new. Taken with the cropping up of new international regulatory bodies, calls for globalized tax regulations, and increasing talk of the necessity of KYC/AML policy, however, and a new picture emerges. One of an already operational crypto surveillance state. The polar opposite of what Bitcoin was designed to create. The World Financial Dragnet Major financial and economic regulatory bodies are becoming less and less confined to their own respective nations. The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) is a coalition formed in 2018 by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) consisting of the IRS and related agencies from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the U.K. The coalition was created in part to help fight “the growing threat to tax administrations posed by cryptocurrencies and cybercrime and to make the most of data and technology.” The J5 maintains: [We are] are committed to combatting transnational tax crime through increased enforcement collaboration. We will work together to gather information, share intelligence, conduct operations and build the capacity of tax crime enforcement officials. The existence of the J5 also makes another recent story all the more pertinent — the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) call for a unified taxation approach. As the OECD’s recent proposal maintains: “In a digital age, the allocation of taxing rights can no longer be exclusively circumscribed by reference to physical presence. The current rules dating back to the 1920s are no longer sufficient to ensure a fair allocation of taxing rights in an increasingly globalised world.” In other words, major corporations and their digital revenue may soon be taxed internationally, regardless of physical presence in a country. This could make practices like relocation to avoid harsh economic conditions or sanctions less efficacious or outright impossible. With the current state of rampant KYC/AML requirements for individual users of centralized exchanges, one wonders how long it will be until individuals are taxed similarly on their own digital assets via similar “guidelines.” The proposal states openly: Once it is determined that a country has a right to tax profits of a non-resident enterprise, the next question is how much profit the rules allocate to that jurisdiction. A Decentralized Pushback Not everyone in the crypto space is standing in wide-eyed wonder at Bitcoin’s supposed acceptance from the “big boys” of Washington and Wall Street via vapid talk about the importance of blockchain and sensible regulation. Bitcoin was explicitly created to be a P2P cash system that was open to everyone. Cropping up in the face of the growing global dragnet are peaceful, permissionless solutions such as decentralized exchanges, peer-to-peer trading platforms, and privacy protocols. What first gave Bitcoin its value and meteoric rise to success was its decentralized, permissionless financial power. Heading right back to the same dying, unethical system cryptocurrency advocates were seeking to escape in the first place, and begging for its acceptance, is ultimately a dead end. Contrast this with the powerful adoption of crypto now happening worldwide in spite of obstacles, and there’s no need to “fight” the powers that be, per se. With enough people simply using crypto as cash peacefully, regardless of politicians’ scribbles, the old castle is set to fall under its own weight once a critical mass is achieved. Now that’s something Satoshi, surely, could be proud of. Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The Local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post Rare Joint Statement From U.S. Regulators Proves Crypto Centralization Is Here appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The initial coin offering may have all but died, but the ICO scammer marches on regardless. Whereas legitimate projects have to wrangle with all kinds of challenges including the strength of the market, generating value for investors, creating a real product and actually delivering on the promises they make, the soulless scammer is unencumbered by technical constraints, work ethic or any sense of decency. Also read: Bitcoin’s Smallest Unit ‘Satoshi’ Added to Oxford English Dictionary How Do You Kill That Which Has No Life? Much like the humble cockroach, there are few conditions in which the ICO scammer cannot operate. Even with peak ICO and token mania well behind us, scammers persist. There are a few things guaranteed to make scammers scatter, however, including legal action, regulatory enforcement, and of course, unwanted press. The following ICOs have all been branded scams, despite their orchestrators noisily protesting their innocence. Karat Gets Stick Blockchain may be a fertile soil for the germination of new ideas, but it is also a dumping ground for risible concepts and con artists who obfuscate their true intentions. One idea that has been floating around the crypto bowl for some time now is of a gold-backed cryptocurrency. Karatbars is a prime example of the gold-backed fad and one which has drawn some serious questions lately. In 2018, the German firm launched Karatgold Coin (KBC) after an ICO that reportedly raised $100 million. To follow that first fundraiser, Karatbars is now looking to conduct another ICO in 2019. This time the company claims to be creating the Karatbank Coin (confusingly also KBC) for its cryptocurrency bank in Miami, leading the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) to open an investigation into the company which is still ongoing. Seems legit. In a video on the Karatbars homepage, Dr. Harald Seiz introduces himself as “the visionary and founder of Karatbars” which is enough to raise an eyebrow if not a red flag. A Youtube video on April 2019 titled ‘Karatbars Harald Seiz To Create 20K Millionaires by 2021!’ is enough to raise greater suspicion still. Products on the Karatbars site include gift cards, credit cards and actual paper money, all of which can be sold with affiliate marketing. Regulators in the Netherlands called this gold buying and selling system ‘multi-level marketing,’ while Namibia was plain enough to call it a ‘pyramid scheme.’ What of the gold itself on which the entire Karatbars concept is built? Independent researchers have failed to verify the existence of the goldmine which the company claims to own. While cynical minds have often claimed that a goldmine is simply a hole in the ground owned by a liar, in the case of Karatbar, not even the hole exists. Like Steven Seagal, ICO scammers are Hard to Kill – but most lack the star’s charm and charisma. When Mountie? In March, Canadian police froze the accounts of Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Cheng, whose company Vanbex raised $22 million in 2017 from the sale of the Etherparty (FUEL) token. Despite claims that FUEL would be used to create a smart contracts ecosystem, no such thing ever materialized, with court documents claiming there was no intention to ever develop this dream world. The colorful past of Hobbs gave added interest to the matter, with the company founder reported to have past convictions for drug possession and money laundering. In a twist which sounds like a plot point straight from an episode of Breaking Bad, Hobbs claimed his newfound wealth came not from misappropriated company funds, but from gambling winnings of around $60,000 a month. Put another way, when you have the gambling skills of Hobbs, the house always loses. Records produced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) show that the Vanbex ICO was completed on Aug. 17, 2017. Hobbs then withdrew around $5.5 million from OTC trading desk Cumberland, with the first of the transactions occurring just four days later on August 21. From there it is alleged that Hobbs and Cheng went on a luxury spending spree. The fraud investigation continues, although no charges have as yet been brought, but that has not prevented investigators from freezing the duo’s bank accounts and seizing personal items including two Range Rovers and a Lamborghini. In Canada they claim the Mounties always get their man, and although you may know precisely when they’ll come calling, revving around in a high-powered sports car is a surefire way to land in their crosshairs. When Mountie? Shortly after ‘When Lambo?’ That’s a Scam In April, one of the biggest scams of the year was ended when Korean police arrested 12 people on suspicion of stealing $18.7 million from elderly investors through a ponzi scheme called M-Coin. Perhaps the most interesting part of the story, however, is that the investigators were first alerted to the crime with the aid of an artificial intelligence designed to scour the internet for keywords and phrases. Once the authorities were alerted, the criminals were duly tracked down and arrested. This means that artificial intelligence is now officially smart enough to know a scam when it sees one, even when human intelligence isn’t. A Fantasy Market Not all ICO misadventures reach the heights of M-Coin, FUEL or Karatbar, but those who believe more modest indiscretions may go unnoticed would do well to heed the story of adult content marketplace Fantasy Market. Its founder Jonathan C. Lucas raised a mere $63,000 before being hauled up by the SEC this September. According to SEC litigation, “Lucas made numerous materially false statements in a whitepaper and online to induce investors to participate in the ICO.” It added: “Lucas claimed that a “working-beta” version of the company’s adult-entertainment platform existed when one did not, presented a fictitious management team, and misrepresented his own experience.” Following the SEC findings, Lucas agreed to pay back $15,000 to resolve claims, pending court approval. The irony is that although Lucas persuaded investors to buy into a completely Fantasy Market, the even greater fantasy was believing that he could get away with it. Why do you think so many people are taken in by ICO scammers? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Enjoy the easiest way to buy bitcoin online with us. Download your free bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely. The post ICOs Are Dead But ICO Scammers Are Immortal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Ever since governments worldwide started showing adversity toward cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, a few startups have dedicated their business model to blockchain surveillance. Two weeks ago, Chainalysis revealed the company is monitoring 21 different tokens that stem from Ethereum. On Tuesday, the firm Ciphertrace announced that it’s now tracking 700 cryptocurrencies providing “visibility into 87% of the global trading volume.” Also read: Berlusconi Admins Disappear — Darknet Users Rush to Find Alternatives Chainalysis Now Tracks 21 Popular ERC20 Tokens Blockchain surveillance teams have been ramping up operations in order to appease governments and law enforcement agencies worldwide. On October 3, blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis told the public that the company was now tracking ERC20 tokens like maker (MKR), dai (DAI), and Basic Attention Token (BAT). Chainalysis’ cofounder Jonathan Levin said that regulators and investigators were interested in monitoring these tokens since they started being used in illicit and fraudulent activities. For instance, in September 2017, the ERC20 exchange Etherdelta was hacked for thousands of dollars when a hacker used a malicious code injection attack and drained ERC20 tokens from people’s wallets. Two years later, burglars robbed the trading platform Cryptopia’s ETH and ERC20 tokens stealing more than $16 million. Chainalysis stressed that lots of businesses have been showing interest in investigating the ERC20 landscape, so the company built ERC20 support in a “matter of weeks.” The firm detailed that over 130 customers in 35 countries use the company’s system to monitor digital currency transactions. The ERC20 support added 21 well known tokens to the Chainalysis framework. By the end of the year, the company says it will be tracking a total of “39 ERC20 tokens in addition to nine other cryptocurrencies — covering 90% of the market by trading volume.” Chainalysis emphasized that the ERC20 support is also available for Chainalysis Reactor, the company’s investigation product. “[Chainalysis Reactor] is already being used by law enforcement to investigate hacks and other illicit activity across blockchains,” the firm explained in a blog post. Ciphertrace Combs 700 Blockchains, Accounting for 87% of the Cryptoconomy’s Global Trade Volume The blockchain surveillance company, Ciphertrace, has also increased its monitoring and the business now tracks 700 different cryptocurrencies. Ciphertrace believes it is one of the world’s “most comprehensive” cryptocurrency intelligence teams out there and the latest update was considered a “giant leap.” Digital assets being monitored include LTC, USDT, BCH, ETH, BTC, and ERC20 tokens as well. “[The infrastructure] provides visibility into 87% of global trading volume with hundreds of millions of attribution data points,” Ciphertrace disclosed. The company’s announcement added: The Ciphertrace platform maintains the industry’s most accurate pool of attribution data. This includes 522 million attribution data points — such as account type, account holders, contract types, contract owners and other metadata — on cryptocurrency addresses. Various government agencies worldwide have been utilizing Blockchain forensics for quite some time and the business model has become very profitable. In the U.S. alone, the IRS, DEA, ICE, FBI, and other three-letter agencies continue to hire firms like Chainalysis, Elliptic, and Ciphertrace. All of these crypto surveillance companies believe the software deployed has powerful de-anonymizing capabilities that can help financial institutions and government agents discover illicit behavior. Ciphertrace divulges that the company leverages monitoring schemes like advanced APIs, interactive visualization, a graph database, and pattern recognition in order to de-anonymize digital currency transactions. What do you think about Chainalysis tracking ERC20s and Ciphertrace monitoring 700 cryptocurrencies? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Chainalysis, Ciphertrace, Fair Use, and Pixabay. Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry. The post 80% of Crypto Trade Volume Tracked by Blockchain Surveillance appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. has many regulators responsible for overseeing different aspects of crypto assets, each with its own stance on how they should be regulated. Major regulators in the U.S. with strong opinions on cryptocurrency include the SEC, the CFTC, the Federal Reserve, Fincen, and the IRS. Also read: Tax Guide: What Crypto Owners Should Know The Securities and Exchange Commission The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has statutory authority over crypto assets that are deemed “security,” with its oversight extending to the offer, sale and trading in those assets. A number of companies have tried to obtain the agency’s approval for bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but all proposals have been rejected so far. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said in an interview last month that the commission is closer to approving a bitcoin ETF than it was before. However, he added that “there’s work left to be done,” raising a number of questions he needed answered. “How do we know that we can custody and have a hold of these crypto assets? That’s a key question,” the chairman opined. “And an even harder question, given that they trade on largely unregulated exchanges, is how can we be sure that those prices aren’t subject to significant manipulation.” Clayton elaborated: Progress is being made but people needed to answer those hard questions for us to be comfortable that this was the appropriate type of product. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton The chairman and other SEC commissioners also appeared before the House Financial Services Committee last month for which they answered some crypto-related questions. Regarding Facebook’s planned Libra coin, Clayton told the committee that he had not discussed the matter with the company, concerning whether Libra will be a security, emphasizing that he was “not prepared to make a decision like that here.” He further remarked: Cryptoassets, while they have benefits … can present a great deal of risk, particularly in cases where, in form, they are the same as securities or the same as currencies, or the same as payment systems, but they’re not regulated in the same way. Meanwhile, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, aka Crypto Mom, said “I would like to see us be a little more forward-thinking” on the use of utility tokens, adding that “I am hoping we can work to create some sort of safe harbor.” The crypto-friendly commissioner has repeatedly spoken favorably on the subject. “As technology changes, we’ll see them becoming much more the money of the internet,” the commissioner recently said. Peirce also believes the time is right for a bitcoin ETF. Meanwhile, the commission has green-lighted two token offerings under Regulation A+. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has broad authority over derivatives and commodities, and crypto-asset derivatives and commodities are regulated in the U.S. in the same manner as any other derivative or commodity. At the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in New York City on Oct. 10, CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert talked about CFTC’s jurisdiction over crypto assets. He said: We’ve been very clear on bitcoin: bitcoin is a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act. We haven’t said anything about ether – until now. It’s my conclusion as chairman of the CFTC that ether is a commodity and therefore would fall under our jurisdiction. “My guess is that you will see, in the near future, ether-related futures contracts and other derivatives potentially traded,” the chairman continued, adding that forked assets should be treated as the original assets. Tarbert succeeded J. Christopher Giancarlo as the chairman of the CFTC in April. CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert Under Giancarlo, the CFTC oversaw a number of crypto derivatives and approved several companies such as Ledgerx and Erisx. Two major derivatives exchanges, CME and Cboe, both self-certified to list bitcoin futures products. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, launched Bakkt last month. Giancarlo explained: CFTC regulatory practice is for exchanges to self-certify that new contracts meet CFTC core principles before listing. This approach has allowed for robust and dynamic risk transfer markets to develop and test new products without a time-consuming application process. The Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System, the U.S. central bank, is responsible for conducting monetary policy, promoting financial system stability, supervising financial institutions, and fostering payment and settlement systems. With increasing regulatory concerns over Facebook’s Libra digital currency project, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was asked last month during a discussion with Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas J. Jordan in Zurich, whether he believes that central banks are missing out on opportunities presented by digital currencies. He replied: We are following very carefully the whole question of digital currencies … It’s not something that we are actively considering … For us, it raises substantial, significant issues that we want to see carefully resolved. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell The chairman proceeded to talk about cyber issues and the lack of demand for cryptocurrency, asserting that “consumers have plenty of payment options.” His statement echoes his testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in July when he said “We haven’t seen widespread adoption” of cryptocurrency. He believes that no one uses bitcoin for payments, noting: They use it more as an alternative to gold, really. It’s a store of value. It’s a speculative store of value like gold. Nonetheless, he admitted the possibility that the need for a reserve currency in the traditional sense would be diminished or even removed should cryptocurrency become prevalent throughout the globe. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) is the lead regulator for the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the primary U.S. AML/CFT regulatory regime. Fincen announced back in March 2013 that AML laws apply to “persons creating, obtaining, distributing, exchanging, accepting, or transmitting virtual currencies,” subjecting them to money services business (MSB) registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations. In May, the regulator published a 30-page document entitled “Application of Fincen’s Regulations to Certain Business Models Involving Convertible Virtual Currencies,” which clarifies registration requirements for MSBs. On Oct. 11, Fincen issued a joint statement with the SEC and the CFTC to remind anyone engaged in crypto activities of their AML and CFT obligations under the BSA. The Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been active in taxing crypto owners. The agency has sent several warning letters to remind them to pay taxes. In general, the IRS explained that “The sale or other exchange of virtual currencies, or the use of virtual currencies to pay for goods or services, or holding virtual currencies as an investment, generally has tax consequences that could result in tax liability.” Last week, the agency issued new guidance for crypto taxation which supplements existing guidance published in 2014. The new guidelines answer many questions but also raise many more, especially regarding the tax treatment of coins received from hard forks and airdrops. Anyone receiving “cryptocurrency from an airdrop following a hard fork” will owe income tax “provided you have dominion and control over the cryptocurrency so that you can transfer, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of the cryptocurrency,” the new guidance details. The agency also published a draft of the new 1040 tax form used by over 150 million U.S. taxpayers which has a question on cryptocurrency. “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” the first question on Schedule 1 of Form 1040 reads. What do you think of U.S. regulators’ stance on crypto assets? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the U.S. government. 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The Financial Stability Board has informed the G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the risks stablecoins could pose to financial stability. Unlike crypto assets which do not pose financial stability risk at this time, stablecoins could pose a host of challenges. Also read: Unicef Launches Cryptocurrency Fund Financial Stability Risk The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has provided the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors with a risk assessment of stablecoins. On Oct. 13, FSB Chairman Randal K. Quarles wrote them a letter which includes a section on the “Potential financial stability issues from global stablecoins.” The letter references the G20 Leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, where the leaders asked the FSB to continue its work and advise them on any multilateral responses as needed. Quarles reiterated that crypto assets “do not pose a threat to global financial stability at this point, but that they remain vigilant to existing and emerging risks.” The letter reads: However, the introduction of ‘global stablecoins’ could pose a host of challenges to the regulatory community, not least because they have the potential to become systemically important, including through the substitution of domestic currencies. FSB Chairman Randal K. Quarles Challenges and Potential Benefits Quarles proceeded to outline the challenges posed by stablecoins including “financial stability; consumer and investor protection; data privacy and protection; financial integrity including AML/CFT and know-your-customer compliance; mitigation of tax evasion; fair competition and anti-trust policy; market integrity; sound and efficient governance; cyber security and operational risks; and an appropriate legal basis.” The FSB chairman further wrote: Global stablecoins might offer a vehicle for cross-border payments and remittances for a large number of users. He continued: “Stablecoin projects of potentially global reach and magnitude must meet the highest regulatory standards and be subject to prudential supervision and oversight.” The FSB is currently assessing how the existing regulatory framework applies to stablecoins and whether any regulatory gaps need to be filled. The board recommends prioritizing the regulatory gap issue. The FSB will be submitting an issues note on stablecoins to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington, D.C. this month. The board will then submit a consultative report to the group in April 2020 and a final report in July 2020. G7’s Evaluation and Facebook’s Libra In his letter, the FSB chairman referred to the G7 working group’s preliminary assessment of opportunities and challenges posed by stablecoins. The group will be handing off its work on regulatory issues to the FSB, the chairman revealed. The board has also formed a working group of its own to examine the regulatory issues raised by stablecoins which have the potential to reach global scale. The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have been actively discussing the global impact of Facebook’s Libra. The G7 working group’s report highlights nine major risks posed by Libra-like digital currencies, the BBC reported. Amid concerns by regulators worldwide, the Libra project has been losing support from major companies such as Visa, Mastercard, Ebay, Stripe, and Paypal. According to the news outlet, the draft report says: The G7 believes that no stablecoin project should begin operation until the legal, regulatory and oversight challenges and risks are adequately addressed. Nonetheless, the G7 report warns that even if concerns have been addressed, stablecoin projects may not obtain regulatory approvals. “Addressing such risks is not necessarily a guarantee of regulatory approval for a stablecoin arrangement,” the report says. Do you agree that stablecoins pose financial stability risk? Let us know in the comments section below. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the FSB. Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here. The post G20 Informed Stablecoins Could Pose Financial Stability Risk appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article